أأسلوا وقد غِبتَ عن ناظري

أأسلوا وقد غِبتَ عن ناظري

وَمثَّلَكَ الشوقُ في خاطري

وَمثَّلَكَ الشوقُ في خاطري

Can I forget, when you have vanished from my sight,

Can I forget you, when you are absent from my sight,

Though longing conjures your likeness in my thoughts?

And longing has pictured you in my mind?

أيا غائباً حاضراً في الحشا

أيا غائباً حاضراً في الحشا

ويا واصلاً في حلى هاجر

ويا واصلاً في حلى هاجر

O absent one, present within my heart;

O absent one, present within my heart,

O near one, wearing the guise of a forsaker!

And O one who grants union in a forsaker’s garb,

دعاء فتى صدعته النّوى

دعاء فتى صدعته النّوى

فأصبح كالمثل السائر

فأصبح كالمثل السائر

Hear the prayer of a youth whom separation has broken,

A plea from a youth whom separation has shattered,

Until he has become a proverb on every tongue:

So he became like a proverb on every tongue.

أكابدل يل النَّوى مفرداً

أكابدل يل النَّوى مفرداً

ومالي وحقِّك من ناصر

ومالي وحقِّك من ناصر

Alone I endure the night of separation,

I endure the night of separation alone,

And, by your right, I have no one to aid me.

And, by your honor, I have no helper.

وأذكر غابر أيامنا

وأذكر غابر أيامنا

فأبكي على الزمن الغابر

فأبكي على الزمن الغابر

I remember our bygone days,

And I remember our bygone days,

And weep over that vanished time.

So I weep for the time gone by.

نظمت الغرام نثرت الدمو

نظمت الغرام نثرت الدمو

ع فسمّيت بالناظم الناثر

ع فسمّيت بالناظم الناثر

I strung love into verse and scattered tears,

I wove passion into verse; I scattered tears,

And thus was named both the stringer and the scatterer.

And so I was called the versifier and the scatterer.

فلا تنكرن ادعائي الهوى

فلا تنكرن ادعائي الهوى

فحسبك من باطني ظاهري

فحسبك من باطني ظاهري

So do not deny my claim to love;

So do not deny my claim of love;

My outward state is proof enough of what lies within.

For my outward state tells you enough of what lies within me.

عسى من قضى بالنوى أولاً

عسى من قضى بالنوى أولاً

سيقضي بوصلك في الآخر

سيقضي بوصلك في الآخر

Perhaps He who first decreed our separation

Perhaps the one who first decreed separation

Will in the end decree that I be joined with you.

Will decree reunion with you in the end.